Cluster: Archive

Swiss Life swings back into profit

This content was published on Sep 10, 2003 The insurer added that it expected to finish the year in the black despite a projected dip in premium income. The result was more than double analysts’ expectations of around SFr30 million net profit and a serious improvement on last year’s SFr587 million first-half net loss. Tuesday’s figures provide the strongest suggestion that Swiss Life…

Switzerland’s Cancun challenge

This content was published on Sep 10, 2003 However, the five-day meeting in the Mexican holiday resort could trigger a new impetus for trade liberalisation. The consequences of this week’s conference will be crucial for Switzerland’s export-based economy. Swiss diplomats must defend the country’s agricultural protectionism and the interests of its farmers, while simultaneously championing unrestricted market access in other areas. The WTO…

Deiss visit to Brazil strengthens relations

This content was published on Sep 9, 2003 Among the developments made, he said, were discussions on dual taxation and a new level of friendship between the two governments. Deiss, accompanied by a group of around 30 Swiss business representatives, visited Brazil en route to Cancun in Mexico, where he will attend the World Trade Organization (WTO) ministerial conference. While in Brazil, he…

Energy agency urges introduction of CO2 tax

This content was published on Sep 9, 2003 However, the IEA also commended Switzerland for measures it had already taken to improve its energy policy. At a news conference on Tuesday, the IEA said Switzerland still had its work cut out if it was to meet the Kyoto targets on CO2, which oblige signatory countries to lower emissions to below 1990 levels by…

Switzerland calls for closer Middle East trade ties

This content was published on Sep 8, 2003 David Syz’s comments came amid renewed political instability within the Palestinian Authority, following the resignation of the Palestinian prime minister, Mahmoud Abbas, over the weekend. Returning from a three-day visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, Syz said one of Seco’s main goals was to fight poverty and unemployment in the Palestinian territories. “The most…

Nano everywhere at Swiss Nanofair

This content was published on Sep 8, 2003 It is the foundation for new industrial products as well as a major theme of research at Switzerland higher institutes of education. One of the demonstrations expected will be a new benchtop-sized “nanofactory” from the Losone-based companies, Agie and Mecartex. The two worked with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology’s Laboratoire de Systèmes Robotiques (LSRO)…

Controversial stimulant used to treat drug addicts

This content was published on Sep 8, 2003 Sixty heroin and cocaine users from Basel and Bern will be given the drug over a three-month period. Doctors say that the group, who are already registered on heroin withdrawal programmes, have proved a headache to treat because of their joint use of cocaine (a stimulant) and heroin (an analgesic). Christopher Bürki from Bern’s Koda…

Swiss technology key to future of European trains

This content was published on Sep 8, 2003 Following successful trials, the Swiss Federal Railways is introducing a high-speed link between Bern and Olten which is to be running by 2005. The new line, which uses a new type of signalling system, will cut train times between Bern and Zurich to less than an hour. More significantly, it has brought the technology to…

Swiss unearth giant dinosaur bone

This content was published on Sep 8, 2003 The 1.75-metre-long shoulder blade, which was found in the American state of Wyoming, is believed to be part of the 35-metre-long skeleton of a seismosaurus. The seismosaurus was a 30-ton plant-eater which lived during the Jurassic period around 150 million years ago. The “earth-shaking lizard” could grow up to 50 metres in length. The team…

Gay fathers club together

This content was published on Sep 7, 2003 That was the question that led to the setting up in Zurich of a “Gay Fathers” group. Now in its eighth year, the organisation was founded by three gay fathers who found that their specific problems were largely overlooked by the homosexual community. The group provides support, counselling and practical advice for men who have…

Cluster: Archive

Popular Stories

Most Discussed